Buried

[Hymermut]

I drove a low loader for Larry Webb who built the A449 from Newport to
Raglan. When delivering there I use to stay overnight in the foreman's
caravan on site. But occasionally, if he was short of drivers, he would
ask me if I'd like to do a night shift on a Euclid earth mover. It was
good money in hand, so I did.

The rule was everything got out of the Euclids' way on the haul road for
obvious reasons. At about 60 tonnes there wasn't much stopping one on a
downhill run.

One night a very tired Euclid driver (ahem) failed to notice a fitter's
van parked up. He flattened it.

He phoned the foreman. A few minutes later the foreman turned up driving
a 360 degree excavator. Within about ten minutes he dug a hole in the
haul road, pushed the squashed van into it, and buried it.

The fitter turned up later, and claimed somebody had stolen his van!

And to this day there is an old Thames van, complete with most of a
fitter's tools, buried beneath the A449 somewhere in the sticks between
Newport and Raglan.

[Sn!pe]

Post by Hymermut
I drove a low loader for Larry Webb who built the A449 from Newport to
Raglan. When delivering there I use to stay overnight in the foreman's
caravan on site. But occasionally, if he was short of drivers, he would
ask me if I'd like to do a night shift on a Euclid earth mover. It was
good money in hand, so I did.
The rule was everything got out of the Euclids' way on the haul road for
obvious reasons. At about 60 tonnes there wasn't much stopping one on a
downhill run.
One night a very tired Euclid driver (ahem) failed to notice a fitter's
van parked up. He flattened it.
He phoned the foreman. A few minutes later the foreman turned up driving
a 360 degree excavator. Within about ten minutes he dug a hole in the
haul road, pushed the squashed van into it, and buried it.
The fitter turned up later, and claimed somebody had stolen his van!
And to this day there is an old Thames van, complete with most of a
fitter's tools, buried beneath the A449 somewhere in the sticks between
Newport and Raglan.

Oh noes! With an unconsecrated burial like that it'll come back to
haunt you, screeching its slipping fan belt and rattling its big ends
like there's no tomorrow.

[James Heaton]

Post by Hymermut
I drove a low loader for Larry Webb who built the A449 from Newport to
Raglan. When delivering there I use to stay overnight in the foreman's
caravan on site. But occasionally, if he was short of drivers, he would
ask me if I'd like to do a night shift on a Euclid earth mover. It was
good money in hand, so I did.

Same road, different subject. Sorry a bit long but hope it raises a
chuckle.

We lived in the S Wales valleys, Dad's job involved day trips to
Birmingham a couple of times a month. This trip was to be a trying day...

There was some sort of industrial dispute, and the staff had withdrawn
car use and were taking pool cars everywhere. Dad's rank meant a Sierra
1.6 normally, or an Escort 1.4 estate if he was too slow getting to the
fleet office...

Howver on this particular day he was very late and both had gone. They
had to give him a Cavalier SRI (?) - a quick one anyway! He happily
drove this forwards out of the space it was in, and nose into our drive
as a neighbour had parked awkwardly and it was easier.

Next morning, Mum pops out in her nightie to wave him off. Dad slams
the Cav into... as it turned out... first gear having not realised the
spring protecting reverse was so strong. I don't think Mum particularly
appreciated being pinned against the wrought iron gate... the only time
I ever heard her swear more (although she had a temper, she was moderate
in language) was when he accidentally knocked her into a drainage ditch
in Aberystwyth doing a 3pt turn with a caravan. (which was only
necessary because she missed a crucial road sign...)

Anyway, it didn't get better.

I was performing in a play at school that evening. Dad worked out the
timings would just about work so long as he bribed one of the
secretaries to go and get him a pastie and a can of coke to eat in the
car.

This done, he sets off, into a massive traffic jam.

By the time he hit the A449 at Raglan, he was rather late and rather
stessed. No mobile phones then, at least not in our income bracket. So
his speed creeps up. He also fails to notice the unmarked police car,
with video camera, in his rear view mirror.

Apparently the copper had been following him for miles hoping for 100mph
which in those days was (I think) a 30d ban, but he never went above
98mph which was 3 of the fairly newly introduced points and £30 (ouch
but not disastrous). He was not impressed that Dad had not crept over.

We made the play. I remembered my lines. And they were married another
28 years until their deaths.

I am waiting to discover if the memories is all I have left, after a
fire in the building where my storage unit from their house clearance
is. Fingers x'd.

James

[James Heaton]

Next morning, Mum pops out in her nightie to wave him off.  Dad slams
the Cav into... as it turned out... first gear having not realised the
spring protecting reverse was so strong.  I don't think Mum
particularly appreciated being pinned against the wrought iron
gate...  the only time I ever heard her swear more (although she had a
temper, she was moderate in language) was when he accidentally knocked
her into a drainage ditch in Aberystwyth doing a 3pt turn with a
caravan.  (which was only necessary because she missed a crucial road
sign...)

Once upon a time I hired a Mercedes van to go down to That London to
pick up a motorcycle. What made the trip more exciting than it should
have been was that where on every single normal gearbox in the universe
first gear was placed, Mercedes had chosen to place reverse, with the
position normally occupied by second gear being taken by first gear (so
it wasn't one where you lifted or raised a collet or anything like that
to go into reverse, you simply put the lever where first normally
lived). I did manage the trip in and out of That London without any
physical interfaces occurring, though I do believe I rather scared a
motorcyclist behind me at some traffic lights.

I think a childhood friend of mine had a Datsun with similar
arrangement. The Cav was conventional top left with collar, just a very
stiff collar being new

By the time he hit the A449 at Raglan, he was rather late and rather
stessed.  No mobile phones then, at least not in our income bracket.
So his speed creeps up.  He also fails to notice the unmarked police
car, with video camera, in his rear view mirror.
Apparently the copper had been following him for miles hoping for
100mph which in those days was (I think) a 30d ban, but he never went
above 98mph which was 3 of the fairly newly introduced points and £30
(ouch but not disastrous).  He was not impressed that Dad had not
crept over.

On the motorcycle one day, making progress from the Belfry towards
Tamworth, I slowed for the 40mph limit just before Drayton Manor Park
and the Volvo that had been following me flashed some pretty lights at
me. I was invited to sit in the front seat and watch some film that
they'd made of me. When I heard the words "at this point, we're doing
120mph and you're pulling away from us", I thought my licence was toast,
not to mention fried and possibly biscuit. Then he said "but you slowed
for the dangerous crossroads, and your positioning was just what we
teach our police riders. We can't let you get away with it and I can't
put down what speed you were doing, so I'll just say 'excessive speed'
and do you three pints and £30". That was the best bargain I've ever had.

Someone was watching out for you that day (other than the copper I mean)...

James

[Sam Plusnet]

Next morning, Mum pops out in her nightie to wave him off.  Dad slams
the Cav into... as it turned out... first gear having not realised the
spring protecting reverse was so strong.  I don't think Mum
particularly appreciated being pinned against the wrought iron
gate...  the only time I ever heard her swear more (although she had a
temper, she was moderate in language) was when he accidentally knocked
her into a drainage ditch in Aberystwyth doing a 3pt turn with a
caravan.  (which was only necessary because she missed a crucial road
sign...)

Once upon a time I hired a Mercedes van to go down to That London to
pick up a motorcycle. What made the trip more exciting than it should
have been was that where on every single normal gearbox in the universe
first gear was placed, Mercedes had chosen to place reverse, with the
position normally occupied by second gear being taken by first gear (so
it wasn't one where you lifted or raised a collet or anything like that
to go into reverse, you simply put the lever where first normally
lived). I did manage the trip in and out of That London without any
physical interfaces occurring, though I do believe I rather scared a
motorcyclist behind me at some traffic lights.

By the time he hit the A449 at Raglan, he was rather late and rather
stessed.  No mobile phones then, at least not in our income bracket.
So his speed creeps up.  He also fails to notice the unmarked police
car, with video camera, in his rear view mirror.
Apparently the copper had been following him for miles hoping for
100mph which in those days was (I think) a 30d ban, but he never went
above 98mph which was 3 of the fairly newly introduced points and £30
(ouch but not disastrous).  He was not impressed that Dad had not
crept over.

On the motorcycle one day, making progress from the Belfry towards
Tamworth, I slowed for the 40mph limit just before Drayton Manor Park
and the Volvo that had been following me flashed some pretty lights at
me. I was invited to sit in the front seat and watch some film that
they'd made of me. When I heard the words "at this point, we're doing
120mph and you're pulling away from us", I thought my licence was toast,
not to mention fried and possibly biscuit. Then he said "but you slowed
for the dangerous crossroads, and your positioning was just what we
teach our police riders. We can't let you get away with it and I can't
put down what speed you were doing, so I'll just say 'excessive speed'
and do you three pints and £30". That was the best bargain I've ever had.

The three pints was pretty decent of them - but I hope you didn't get
back onto the bike afterwards.

[Sam Plusnet]

Post by Hymermut
I drove a low loader for Larry Webb who built the A449 from Newport to
Raglan. When delivering there I use to stay overnight in the foreman's
caravan on site. But occasionally, if he was short of drivers, he would
ask me if I'd like to do a night shift on a Euclid earth mover. It was
good money in hand, so I did.
The rule was everything got out of the Euclids' way on the haul road for
obvious reasons. At about 60 tonnes there wasn't much stopping one on a
downhill run.
One night a very tired Euclid driver (ahem) failed to notice a fitter's
van parked up. He flattened it.
He phoned the foreman. A few minutes later the foreman turned up driving
a 360 degree excavator. Within about ten minutes he dug a hole in the
haul road, pushed the squashed van into it, and buried it.
The fitter turned up later, and claimed somebody had stolen his van!
And to this day there is an old Thames van, complete with most of a
fitter's tools, buried beneath the A449 somewhere in the sticks between
Newport and Raglan.

Will soon be seeing some fiends who live in Raglan.
I'll ask them to keep an eye out for a wing mirror sticking up out of
the tarmac.

[Hymermut]

Post by Sam Plusnet

Post by Hymermut
And to this day there is an old Thames van, complete with most of a
fitter's tools, buried beneath the A449 somewhere in the sticks
between Newport and Raglan.

Will soon be seeing some fiends who live in Raglan.
I'll ask them to keep an eye out for a wing mirror sticking up out of
the tarmac.

I posted this on The Retired Lorry Drivers' Tales FB Group. It got some
interesting responses. Often contractors would buy cheap old
eight-wheeled tippers to haul muck up and down the haul roads on
motorway sites. When they eventuality became undriveable, even off-road,
some of them ended up as landfill under the M1 or M6.

I know there is at least one Scammell 8 wheeler under the M25 near
Potters Bar. We used that for muck-away from the Hatfield Tunnel project
on the A1(M). It burst a back axle on the M25 infill site, and to my
knowledge it is still there to this day, somewhere under the embankment.

There is apparently a lake close to Preston that contains a few tippers
and some redundant earth-moving plant after the by-pass (now part of the
M6) was opened.

Also, it seems, when the Hammersmith Fly-over was being built, the
London gangster war was reduced somewhat. Some of them are reputed to be
propping up the pillars.

Tone

[Julian Macassey]

Post by Hymermut
Also, it seems, when the Hammersmith Fly-over was being built, the
London gangster war was reduced somewhat. Some of them are reputed to be
propping up the pillars.

That would be Ginger Marks, shot dead in 1965.

[Hymermut]

Post by Julian Macassey

Post by Hymermut
Also, it seems, when the Hammersmith Fly-over was being built, the
London gangster war was reduced somewhat. Some of them are reputed to be
propping up the pillars.

That would be Ginger Marks, shot dead in 1965.

I'm surprised that ginger marks are not appearing in the concrete by now.

Tone

[John Williamson]

Post by Hymermut

Post by Julian Macassey

Post by Hymermut
Also, it seems, when the Hammersmith Fly-over was being built, the
London gangster war was reduced somewhat. Some of them are reputed to be
propping up the pillars.

That would be Ginger Marks, shot dead in 1965.

I'm surprised that ginger marks are not appearing in the concrete by now.

Grone.

Last time I was in the area, the underside and piers were a patchwork of
old and new concrete where the steel reinforcement had rusted and
expanded, splitting the top layer of concrete off. They have also
installed monitoring equipment.

[Mike Fleming]

Post by Hymermut
Also, it seems, when the Hammersmith Fly-over was being built, the
London gangster war was reduced somewhat. Some of them are reputed to be
propping up the pillars.

Spaghetti Junction is also rumoured to contain some.

[Nicholas D. Richards]

Post by Mike Fleming

Post by Hymermut
Also, it seems, when the Hammersmith Fly-over was being built, the
London gangster war was reduced somewhat. Some of them are reputed to be
propping up the pillars.

Spaghetti Junction is also rumoured to contain some.

Urban Myth? Trying to fit a body in the lattice work of re-bar could be
rather difficult.

I have some sort of memory of a 'Myth Busters'(? or something like that)
episode where they buried the corpse of a whole pig under concrete. The
neighbours complained about the smell.

I would have thought if it was possible it would seriously compromise
the integrity of the structure.

Or am I doing a Brian Cox?

[c***@privacy.net]

Post by Nicholas D. Richards

Post by Mike Fleming

Post by Hymermut
Also, it seems, when the Hammersmith Fly-over was being built, the
London gangster war was reduced somewhat. Some of them are reputed to be
propping up the pillars.

Spaghetti Junction is also rumoured to contain some.

Urban Myth? Trying to fit a body in the lattice work of re-bar could be
rather difficult.

Hmmm... Depends how big the bits are?

HTH

Chris

[Nicholas D. Richards]

Post by c***@privacy.net

Post by Nicholas D. Richards

Post by Mike Fleming

Post by Hymermut
Also, it seems, when the Hammersmith Fly-over was being built, the
London gangster war was reduced somewhat. Some of them are reputed to be
propping up the pillars.

Spaghetti Junction is also rumoured to contain some.

Urban Myth? Trying to fit a body in the lattice work of re-bar could be
rather difficult.

Hmmm... Depends how big the bits are?

True enough.

Today's BBC News website includes this tasty(?) article (not for the
squeamish):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crl3jn3elz3o

Reminded me of 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover'.

[nev young]

Post by Mike Fleming

Post by Hymermut
Also, it seems, when the Hammersmith Fly-over was being built, the
London gangster war was reduced somewhat. Some of them are reputed to
be propping up the pillars.

Spaghetti Junction is also rumoured to contain some.

While jbexing in Liverpool on old hall st
[https://w3w.co/taped.chief.until ]) in the 1990s a pond (disused dock)
[https://w3w.co/submit.rooms.mull ] was filled in prior to building a
new hotel/multi storey building. Rather than draining the dock and back
filling it "they" just poured many hundreds of landfill dump loads into
the water.
It was, possibly apocryphally, suggested that if the dock had been
drained it would have delayed the new build by many years as the wearers
of the concrete boots would have created many police investigations.

I nevver saw nuffink guv!

[Sn!pe]

Kerr-Mudd, John <***@127.0.0.1> wrote:
[...]

Used to have 3 booze outlets, the defunct pub lost a letter prior to
it's demise; as I can't quite recall it ATM. Ah it wasn't that bad - it
was CROWN to CROW..
Other losses might be more interesting?
Queer's Head?

King's Ar s (a rainbow pubbe)

[Mike Fleming]

Used to have 3 booze outlets, the defunct pub lost a letter prior to
it's demise; as I can't quite recall it ATM. Ah it wasn't that bad - it
was CROWN to CROW..
Other losses might be more interesting?
Queer's Head?

The Golden Eagle in Birmingham became the Old Age.

There was a photo on Phacebook of a Morrisons sign where the "ris" part
had been blown down.

[Kerr-Mudd, John]

On Fri, 13 Dec 2024 18:27:47 +0000

Post by Sam Plusnet

Post by Hymermut
I drove a low loader for Larry Webb who built the A449 from Newport to
Raglan. When delivering there I use to stay overnight in the foreman's
caravan on site. But occasionally, if he was short of drivers, he would
ask me if I'd like to do a night shift on a Euclid earth mover. It was
good money in hand, so I did.
The rule was everything got out of the Euclids' way on the haul road for
obvious reasons. At about 60 tonnes there wasn't much stopping one on a
downhill run.
One night a very tired Euclid driver (ahem) failed to notice a fitter's
van parked up. He flattened it.
He phoned the foreman. A few minutes later the foreman turned up driving
a 360 degree excavator. Within about ten minutes he dug a hole in the
haul road, pushed the squashed van into it, and buried it.
The fitter turned up later, and claimed somebody had stolen his van!
And to this day there is an old Thames van, complete with most of a
fitter's tools, buried beneath the A449 somewhere in the sticks between
Newport and Raglan.

Will soon be seeing some fiends who live in Raglan.
I'll ask them to keep an eye out for a wing mirror sticking up out of
the tarmac.

Arr, tis a strange place, is Rhaglan. (IIRC the cidermaker, or at least
a previous owner (I hope the trees are still there) absconded to
Stamford - dunno if it's the one with a bridge.

Used to have 3 booze outlets, the defunct pub lost a letter prior to
it's demise; as I can't quite recall it ATM. Ah it wasn't that bad - it
was CROWN to CROW..

Other losses might be more interesting?

Queer's Head?

[Richard Robinson]

Post by Kerr-Mudd, John
Arr, tis a strange place, is Rhaglan. (IIRC the cidermaker, or at least
a previous owner (I hope the trees are still there) absconded to
Stamford - dunno if it's the one with a bridge.
Used to have 3 booze outlets, the defunct pub lost a letter prior to
it's demise; as I can't quite recall it ATM. Ah it wasn't that bad - it
was CROWN to CROW..
Other losses might be more interesting?
Queer's Head?

There used to be a gambling-machines place near here, left derelict for
years. Originally it was called "COLONIAL AMUSEMENTS",
but after a fre years of (possiby helped) neglect, it became
"COLON USEME"

[Kerr-Mudd, John]

On Fri, 13 Dec 2024 15:07:00 +0000

Post by Hymermut
I drove a low loader for Larry Webb who built the A449 from Newport to
Raglan. When delivering there I use to stay overnight in the foreman's
caravan on site. But occasionally, if he was short of drivers, he would
ask me if I'd like to do a night shift on a Euclid earth mover. It was
good money in hand, so I did.
The rule was everything got out of the Euclids' way on the haul road for
obvious reasons. At about 60 tonnes there wasn't much stopping one on a
downhill run.
One night a very tired Euclid driver (ahem) failed to notice a fitter's
van parked up. He flattened it.
He phoned the foreman. A few minutes later the foreman turned up driving
a 360 degree excavator. Within about ten minutes he dug a hole in the
haul road, pushed the squashed van into it, and buried it.
The fitter turned up later, and claimed somebody had stolen his van!
And to this day there is an old Thames van, complete with most of a
fitter's tools, buried beneath the A449 somewhere in the sticks between
Newport and Raglan.

What size metal detector will I need?